Ghosts of His Past
by Weirdo.Blabber
Summary: Zick didn't say it but he was devastated after losing his powers. So he left everything behind: monsters, his family, Elena. Only to find that ten years of running away was not long enough to stop the ghosts of his past from haunting him. An unexpected turn of events, he finds himself back in Old Mill. Issues will be resolved. Questions will be answered. Time will tick again.
1. Chapter 1

**WEIRDO BLABBS: **I've started re-reading Monster Allergy. I stopped at the 13th book when I was around 13 or 14 and so I didn't really know what happened after they defeated the Mask of Fire. When I _did _get to finish the 29th book, though, I was so heart broken.

This is dedicated to the 29th book; _you deserve a sequel._

**FULL SUMMARY: **You cannot get over losing something you have lived with all your life even if you lost it for somebody precious, more precious than yourself. So what do you do? You run away, of course. You hide… and pretend that the first few years of your childhood never existed. But the ghosts of your past will always haunt you until you learn to resolve it.

Zick didn't say it but he was devastated after losing his powers. So he left everything behind: monsters, his family, Elena. Only to find that ten years of running away was not long enough to stop the ghosts of his past from haunting him. An unexpected turn of events, he finds himself back in Old Mill. Issues will be resolved. Questions will be answered. Time will tick again.

**WARNING: **Friendship is the general theme. But who knows? After all, this story is set with twenty-two-year-old Elena and Zick. *laughs*

* * *

><p><span><strong>CHAPTER ONE: THE PAST TEN YEARS<strong>

Ezekiel Zick woke up from the dream again that morning. It's not _a_ dream... It's _the_ dream; it's been the dream he's been having for ten years now. And as he struggled to get up, the young man, now twenty two, stifled a yawn, flashes of the dream recurring in his conscious.

The dream had always been about seeing monsters. Not the evil kind of monster adults used to scare children into sleeping early at night, but good monsters. Monsters who were his friends.

There was Bombo, a red, really huge fellow with black spots all over his body. He had one yellow eye and one white one. But what was special about Bombo is that he ate... _a lot_. Zick feels as if Bombo would have liked cappuccino, one Zick plans to have later on before he goes to the university. There were also Bobaks, gelatinous monsters who were extremely wise. If they were only as good as musicians as they were at reading books. There were Snyakutzes, Bursties, Gingis, and ghosts in his dream. They were talking to him, they were having so much fun and he, Ezekiel Zick, was _happy_.

But few things are ever real; now, wide awake, Zick reminds himself that it was all just a figment of his imagination; a repressed desire to be different... to _not_ be normal.

Zick sighed and he wiped the fog on the mirror above his sink. His peculiarly blue hair had spiked in several different directions over the night after he'd turned and twisted in his bed; probably because in the later part of his dream, he was on a boat one dark night and four very dark figures loomed over him, chasing him as he ran towards the light... towards a girl with brown hair and a button nose.

Zick screams and a flash of blue light emanates from him—and then he wakes up.

That was pretty much _the dream_... the same thing for the past ten years.

When he was ten, he imagined there were monsters and that he could see them; and talk to them, and tame them. But then again, it's normal for kids to have a wild imagination. It must have just been like a defense mechanism in him as a child to compensate for the late appearance of his father and the lack of friends on his side. Imaginary friends and imaginary adventures that he could no longer remember.

_Or he could have just been schizophrenic._

Zick got out of the shower and dried himself off before checking his phone: a few messages from his parents, from his college classmates, and a few tens of texts from a certain Elena Potato.

He sighed. She _never_ gives up.

Elena Potato was Zick's best friend. _Was_. Ever since he went to boarding school in a neighboring city when he was twelve, Zick and Elena have been, to put it in terms, drifting apart. The girl chose to stay in Old Mill to help out in Zick's mother's green house and continued her studies there. On the other hand, Zick wanted to go away and not even Zob, his father, could stop him. Well, ever since he'd escaped, they had never been able to stop him, nor see him in person for that matter. Zob has had a stable job at the museum for some time now, and he travels a lot. Elena and Greta put up a flower shop at Old Mill's town square which was also doing quite well. They were all busy that they rarely had time to visit; and when they did find time, Zick would make several hundred excuses for them to leave him be.

Zick's stomach churned as he looked at himself on his wardrobe mirror. What a horrible son he turned out to be. But could they blame him? Seeing them, all three of them, was too painful because it reminded him... It reminded him of so many delusions he has had in the past.

Zick sighed as he pulled his shirt over his long-sleeved top. He looked around his dorm room for any sign at all of movement.

It was all quiet and still. _Nothing_.

That was his daily dose of disappointment and, having had his fill, he headed out to the kitchen to grab a day-old sandwich and proceeded to the university on his bike.

That was more-or-less mornings at Newville for Ezekiel Zick: routinary, boring, normal... for the past ten years.

* * *

><p>"Good morning, Ezekiel," greeted Professor Jennifer as Zick came bursting through the door. Somehow, his professor since freshman year in college insists on calling him Ezekiel rather than the usual Zick. She was a woman with shoulder-length black hair, bushy brows, almond-shaped brown eyes, thin lips, and a very fair complexion. She stood a few inches shorter than Zick as he approached her, his term paper in hand.<p>

"Morning, Professor Jennifer," he greeted back. "I did the revisions you asked me to do and I also added a few citations in chapter two."

"Hm, yes," she replied, scanning his papers with impressed eyes. "I'll check this more thoroughly later during lunch. In the meantime, you're free to go."

"What, you mean like I'm done?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes... You don't have to see me until term resumes." She sat on her desk and turned her swivel chair facing him, "You don't seem too happy about the free time I'm giving you..."

"I am—! I mean... I just... I think it'd be a waste of time to just sit idly when I can finish that one earlier."

"Ezekiel," she started tut-tutting and shaking her head, "You've been here in the university for four years and not once have I seen you take a break. There is such a thing as overworking, you know?"

"But I—"

"_Ezekiel Zick_, don't make me say it twice. Take a breather; watch a movie; go home! For heaven's sake, take your girlfriend on a movie!"

"I'm not interested in those things..." he smiled and shoved his hands into his pockets, "Can't I just stay here and help you out with checking papers or something?"

"_No_... I've decided that you, my best student, will go home and rest at home until term starts in two weeks. I mean it," she emphasized.

Zick conceded, there was no winning against a woman with a persuasive tone. "Okay, fine, professor... I do think I need to spend more time at the dorm. My dishes and my laundry are piling up—"

"_No_!" she almost screamed. "By home, I meant _home_-home. Aren't you from Big Burg?"

"O-Old Mill but—that's not the point—it's too far and I—" The teacher magically produced a letter envelope from her pocket and handed it to him. "What. Is. _This_?"

"Some pocket money. A list of souvenirs I want when you get back from break. A plane ticket to Big Burg." Her smile was smug. "It leaves tonight at six."

"_Prof_—!"

She only smiled. "Anything for my best student."

"No... That's not—! How do I say this—? It's complicated!" Zick fidgeted on the spot, as if someone had just told him Christmas was being postponed. "You don't understand—_I can't go home_!"

"Ezekiel, I have a doctorate in Psychology and I think I know sublimation when I see it."

"Oh, please, professor, don't go _Freudian_ on me now!" his voice strained as he kept thinking about what might happen. There was a plane ticket to Big Burg with his name on it and it just—it was madness.

"Ezekiel," Zick closed his eyes and he could swear it was his mother talking to him through her, "it's not good to turn a blind eye to whatever is bothering you forever. If you keep distracting yourself and pretending it doesn't exist, you'll never get over it; it won't go away, it won't resolve itself either."

He opened his eyes and saw her smile; he smiled back, albeit hesitantly. "I guess."

Professor Jennifer pat the seat in front of her, "Wanna talk about it?" Then, his smile faded, replaced with a stoic look.

"No, thanks," he said, and turned towards the door. "I'll leave now."

"Don't forget, the plane leaves at six—!" The call was drowned by the sudden slamming of the door to the faculty lounge.

Zick looked at the ticket in his hand. It was the first ticket he's held after the one that took him out of Old Mill; the first in ten long years. The ticket was sandwiched between several paper bills his professor said was pocket money and a small checklist. But what was he going to do with it now?

Indeed, what to do now?

* * *

><p>The best thing about Old Mill is that it was halfway between city and country. The buildings, the infrastructures and the stores around it were modern with an air of mid-century elegance. The bustling sound of beeping cars and revving engines were lulled by the chirping of birds during the day and by crickets at night. The air was always cool and pleasant, never too dry or too humid.<p>

Why would anyone ever want to leave the comforts of Old Mill?

_Why would Zick?_

Elena stopped to look at the picture frames atop the cabinets in the Barrymore home. One particularly large photo was the one just after Elena and Zick's fifth grade school play, Ghosto. It was an old picture with yellowing edges and almost fading colors but it was always cleaned by Mrs. Barrymore; so that the childish smile of the son she so misses could forever be preserved, even if she wasn't sure it still existed now.

How young were they back then—ten, eleven—when Zick started to avoid talking about the extraordinary they used to do? Monster hunting, taming, even studying the monsters were more fun than anything they'd done in between. Why would he suddenly leave them and never return calls?

All Zick did for the past decade was send them text messages saying he was _'fine'_ and _'doing well'_. Where were the photos that proved that? And why does he never ask how they were—how they _all_ were?

Even a person as tough as Elena had sensitivities, too. And what hurt her more was seeing Greta and Zob, Zick's grandparents, and all the monsters in their home miss him every single day.

She sighed.

"We all miss him, kiddo," came Zob's voice from behind Elena. The brunette turned and swiftly smiled at the couple. Elena imagined that Zick would probably look just like his father by now.

"For one thing, I know Timothy likes having one less monster to look after so I know he doesn't," she joked and turned her back on the photo. "I mean, ten years isn't long enough to miss a person, right?"

"Oh, Elena," Great said, detaching herself from Zob's arm on her waist and rushing to Elena, "You look at that photo every day. I know you miss him; it's not bad to admit it once in a while."

Greta smiled at her and Elena forced her own lips to part. "I know... But really, I'm too busy with Keeper apprenticeship that I really don't have much time."

"And speaking of time—" Greta cocked her head to the side like a child; ten years hasn't done much to the woman's face as it was as youthful as before, "—are you sure you won't want to stay for dinner?"

She shook her head, the curls at the tips of her hair bouncing up and down, "No, thank you, Greta. My parents are waiting for me at home with a huge casserole of baked macaroni."

"Oh, how lovely," said the woman and Elena bid them goodbye. She went and turned the corner that faced the door.

She stopped when she was sure that the footsteps were far from earshot.

Truth be told, her parents weren't waiting for her at all. They were at the twins' own fifth grade school play (a remake of Elena's Ghosto) ready for Violet's directing debut. Elena would be at home alone tonight, probably reminiscing the past in front of the Keeper's Manual. She would sleep late tonight, studying for the practical Keeper's finals the next day.

Elena sighed. Tonight will be a _long_ night.

The door creaked open as she made her way out, and when she closed the door behind her—she stopped dead on her tracks. At the bottom of the steps was a tall and lanky silhouette. The face of the young man was covered in the shadows but his hair was illuminated by the yellow light of the moon.

The silhouette turned and was taken aback as well. He and Elena stared at each other for a little while until Elena finally spoke to him.

"_What the_...?"

Elena scrambled and groped around for the light bulb switch. She turned it on before her panic attack could go full swing.

A bright white light flooded the first few steps of the stairs and the figure stepped forward.

"Hi... _Elena_." There was hesitation in his voice. And was that guilt she heard?

Elena raced down the stairs, feeling her brain pulse in her skull.

She raised her arm above her head; and before he could say anything, _she punched him_.

* * *

><p><strong>WEIRDO BLABBS [again]: <strong>Elena doesn't seem like the kind of girl who will jump onto a long lost friend so I had her punch Zick instead… which, for me, seems like a totally more logical reaction to a friend who doesn't contact you for ten years!

What do you guys think? **R & R **and let me know!


	2. Chapter 2

**WEIRDO BLABBS: **This took a while… - _ -

**WARNING: **Friendship is the general theme. But who knows? After all, this story is set with twenty-two-year-old Elena and Zick. *laughs*

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own anything.

* * *

><p><span><strong>CHAPTER TWO: THE FIRST EMBRACE<strong>

Zick nursed the slowly-swelling bruise on his cheek with an ice pack his mother had given him. He was sincerely hoping his jaw didn't get dislocated. Elena might have looked more womanly but her behavior remained as brusque as when they were ten.

_She punched him. She had punched him—as a greeting. It was painful but at the same time he had a feeling he deserved every Newton of it. He could feel the blood inside his mouth when it tore as he bit on the pink flesh of his tongue._

_He lost his balance and he fell, butt-first on the concrete road in front of his childhood home._

_"Yeow! What'd you do that for?!" he asked, squinting as Elena's shadow towered over his half-prone form. Her foot was on his stomach as she said in a sharp voice, "That was for the past ten years, you idiot ex-Tamer!"_

Soon after, his parents rushed out of the house and, after losing the shock of seeing him all grown up, hugged him ten years' worth of hugs and ushered him inside. Which brought him to the sofa in the wide, plant-filled room he used to know; except, it wasn't exactly the same.

"Here, put some more ice on it," his mother told him. She sat beside him, and put her hand on his knee. His mother's eyes caught his, "_I missed you, Zick_..."

He only smiled. He so wanted to say, "I missed you, too," but couldn't bring himself to say it without welling up in tears and guilt. So instead of saying it in words, Zick took hold of his mother's hand with his free one and squeezed tightly. He gave her the most sincere smile he could muster.

"So? How have you been all these years?" she asked him. Zob, who was seemingly inexistent until he leaned in closer to his son, smiled and urged him to start.

"Uhm, I already told you I enrolled in a Psychology degree four years ago and I guess I'm doing pretty well," he started. "One of my professors also took me on as a research assistant and I do all sorts of menial jobs for her. I guess you could say that it's actually very good experience for working in the field when I graduate."

"_That's great, Zick_," said Zob. "How about your studies?"

"_Good_!" he exclaimed in a more excited tone than he intended. "My professors don't really have any complaints and I guess... I guess you can say that I excel somehow at school."

"I never doubted you, dear," Greta commented and leaned in closer, other hand over her son's. "Though it would have been nice if you called or came by every once in a while. It wouldn't be too much, would it?"

He held both his mother's hand now as he said in his most sincere voice, "I'm really sorry, mom..."

Greta looked as if the tears that pooled at the corners of her eyes were going to flow and she took Zick in both arms and cradled him. Zick could hear his mother's sniffles. "Oh, I was so worried about you, you know?"

"I know... I'm sorry," he said and she broke the embrace to wipe her tears. It was now Zob's turn to wrap his arms around his wife. "It's just—been really hard since you left. Not hearing from you was worse! Your grandparents—"

"I'm really sorry about that, um—B-By the way, mom, I really like what you've done to the place," he interrupted and looked around. What used to be a gloomy indoor forest was now replaced with cream-colored walls and a moderate number of potted plants and shrubs that decorated the corners and the walls. It was brighter and more sophisticated; but the furniture remained, the old chess set was still there, and the picture frames of forgotten years lined up atop the cabinets, the drawers, and the fireplace.

Greta and Zob smiled, but behind the smile was concern.

"Well, it was _Elena's_ idea, actually," Greta started and looked around. "She said it would be homier this way."

"And I couldn't have agreed more!" Zob commented, "We finally convinced your mother to stop turning our home into a rainforest! Did you know that Timothy and Jeremy actually got lost more than once in her old garden by the hallway?"

Zick laughed nervously. "But you know, it's not entirely impossible for cats to lose their way..." and he looked around for any sign of the 'cats', "Where are the two of them?"

"Well, they're out in a meeting at Bibbur-si but—"

Zick interrupted with a loud, forced yawn. "Wow, it's late. Can I go ahead to bed? We catch up tomorrow."

"O-Of course, dear," Greta stuttered. "I'll get your old room ready... We haven't touched _anything_ since you went away."

Father and son were left to themselves in the living room as the woman hurriedly climbed the stairs.

They could Greta's excited footsteps on the floor above them; it sounded frantic and hurried. The two laughed.

"She didn't touch _anything_ at all!" Zob explained, "She wouldn't let any of us clean even though the monsters have volunteered themselves—"

"Dad."

"Yes?"

"I'm glad you're still supportive of my childhood fantasies but I'm grown up now," Zick said; as he did, he couldn't bear to look his father in the eye. "You can stop..."

"Stop?" he asked, "Stop _what_?"

"This! All this—this thing about monsters and ghosts and… _tamers_," he said in an increasing volume. "I don't need to hear it anymore. I got over it... So should you..."

There was a small, surprised silence between the two Zick's, broken only by Greta's call of _'It's ready, honey_!' With this, the son stood up and bid his father goodnight.

"See you tomorrow, dad."

Zob couldn't reply. He could only watch his son's retreating back, completely unaware of the Bombo and the Bobaks, the Snyakutz and the Bursties that looked on after him as he made the ascend to his room.

* * *

><p>The dishes were clinking so loudly that Elena had to clear her throat to make it stop. She looked up from her Keeper's Manual at the insufferable monsters sitting around their usual seats on the dining table. To her right were Bombo and Bombolo who were both halfway through their porridge; across them were Ben Talak and Clak Ritak, eating with class, noses up in the air; Snyakutz Bu was, as usual, leaving pieces of himself on the food pot, while the Zappori had his head on the bowl, eating directly from it. They all looked at Elena whose one eyebrow was raised, and they all immediately behaved with apologetic looks.<p>

"That's more like it," she said, grinning. "After you guys clean up, you can each grab a slice of the fruit cake I brought with me."

The monsters squealed in joy.

"Bombo like Elena _muchly_," said the older Bombo. Bombolo only repeated his sentence.

"Oh, _yeth_, I agree," added Snyakutz Bu. "If you inherit ze Barrymore Detention Oathith, I vould be _very_ pleathed."

"Hey, now. Greta is a great keeper and this is _her_ oasis. Show some more respect!" she said, but unable to hide the elation at the monster's fake-French-accent compliment. "And anyway, I've still got a lot to learn!"

"But I've to hand it to you dear girl," said Ben Talak with a nod to Clak Ritak, "You're quite good for a graft-in."

"I'd take that as a compliment," she said.

_CREAK!_

A millisecond was all it took for Elena to calculate the possibility of a monster to be on its way to an escape, but think again since every single monster of the Barrymore home was accounted for and eating at the dining table—wait, hold that thought. Not every monster; Zob is still probably getting home from work and—

"_Zick_!" cried Elena, slamming both hands on the table. The monsters put all their bowls on the table to look at Elena. "I _know_ you're there...!"

Zick came out from behind the wall into plain sight. He was still wearing the same white top over black long sleeves, as the night before. Even his pants were the same; the only thing different that night was that he was sporting a bruised cheek.

Elena snickered. "Good morning... Dinner?"

"Uh... Well I haven't had anything to eat all day so yeah, I guess..." He approached the seat farthest from Elena, the one where Bombolo sat.

"Wait, _don't_!" she cried, "Bombolo is sitting there!

"Bombolo—?"

"_My_ Bombolo...? Don't tell me that punch gave you amnesia."

He was silent at first, then he gave a nervous chuckle. "Can't believe you're still into that."

"Into what? Monster-keeping?"

"Uhm..." he cleared his throat and laughed again, "Good one, Elena. Uhm, what's for dinner?" The young man moved to the seat directly across Elena, who eyed him suspiciously.

"Something's different about you…" she said. Everyone around the table was silent, and suddenly losing their appetite.

"Maybe it's the bruise," Zick suggested and carefully reached to the pasta close to him. "You still pack quite a punch, I see."

"Well, we've been training basic self-defense and offense. You should see Lay—"

"So uhm… Which program are you enrolled in university now—?"

"—she's awesome in the arena. And we've got this sparring session—"

"I heard you were into Anthropology. Must be nice—?"

"—Okay, that's it! _What's wrong with you_?!"

ZIck laughed nervously, the umpteenth time in the short span of time he was in the dining area. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm _not _stupid, _Ezekiel Zick_," that women call you using your full name means that they are pissed, "I can see that you are avoiding any topic related to _our _world. What's up with that, seriously?!"

"I've had enough, thanks—"

"You haven't even eaten _anything_—"

"I guess I'll see you around, Elena."

Seemingly-forgotten movements, swift and elegant like that of felines, allowed Zick to leave the room before Elena could catch up to him. His legs felt wobbly and his ears were ringing, Elena's statement echoing in his ears.

_Avoiding any topic related to _our _world._

_Our _world.

Suddenly everything started to spin and Zick bumped on to the wall with a dull thud. His chest tightened and his breath hastened. It felt as if someone was stopping all the oxygen from going to his brain, and Zick stopped walking. To heck with Elena, whom he knew was hot on his heels. He knew a panic attack when he saw—this time, experienced—one.

He knew he shouldn't have taken that last-minute change of heart about going back to Old Mill. He _just _knew it was bad idea. Now all those years of shielding himself from everything he knew and everyone he loved, they were all going to fall apart. _No_. He couldn't have this. He was going to go back up the stairs, pack his bags, and go back to New Ville immediately.

"Zick, stop! Talk to me!"

"Not now, Elena—" he said, head still spinning. Footsteps were coming towards him now, and no matter how much he tried to deny it now he knew who they were.

"What is wrong with you—?"

"What is all this ruckus about—_By a gazillion gingi_! _Zick_!"

"Timothy!" cried Elena.

"Timothy—?!"

Everything spun and constricted and numbed in all the wrong places. The last thing Zick saw was the old, furless cat running towards him, a paw ready to cushion the impact his head would soon be having with the floor.

* * *

><p>Zick could have sworn he'd woken up from the worst hangovers in better conditions. Tonight he was just—brain dead. It was a good thing that his room was dark, and no monster was making itself visible to him just yet. But he knew soon enough he would have a lot of explaining to do to the people who were making such a racket outside his room, who were also the reason why he woke up in the first place.<p>

"I said 'no', Zob! If you want to talk to him, talk to him tomorrow!" It was Greta.

"But dear, our son has been suffering for ten years and _we tried to turn a blind eye to it_! This can't wait until tomorrow!" Zob sounded quite anxious.

"In my honest opinion, Greta, if you wait until tomorrow I'm afraid he'd be gone by then." This time, it was Elena. If the three of them were there then there was a hundred percent chance that both Zick's grandparents, Timothy, and Jeremy would be, too.

Zick tried to inhale, his breathing still tight in his chest, but instead of a silent exhale or a sigh, his breathe came out as a loud sneeze. Well, at least his monster allergy was telling him some things just don't change.

"Uhm, Zick?" Greta again. "Are you awake?"

A short silence. Then, "Yes."

"Can we come in, kiddo?" asked Zob.

Another short silence before, "I'd like to talk to Elena first, please…" It only took around ten seconds for Elena to slowly appear behind the small crack of the door and go into Zick's room. "Hey."

"Hey," she greeted back, as if they were still ten years old.

"Look, Elena… I'm sorry…" It was a sheepish first remark; or, at least, the first remark that actually meant something since they met again. Zick couldn't see his friend eye to eye.

His best friend, now a grown twenty-two-year-old woman, sat at the foot of Zick's bed and stared dead ahead at his wardrobe, avoiding his gaze altogether. "For not replying to any of my texts for the past ten years, for leaving without explaining, for _not once _visiting, or for everything?"

He chuckled through his nose. "For everything… and for everything else, I guess."

"Well, yeah, I guess you _do _have to be sorry for that…" Then she glanced sideways at him and punched one of his bent knees playfully. "I missed you, you dope."

Zick chuckled again. "About earlier this evening… I wanted to explain," he started. But somehow, Elena needed no explanation.

"It's about you losing your powers, isn't it? It always _has been_." Zick nodded. "You could've talked to us about it, you know? Zob, Greta and me… All the others would've understood—"

"Would you really have?" Zick asked. He put a hand over Elena's which rested on top of his knee. "Elena, everything about the monster world was the _best thing _that could have happened to me; and to have that taken away—no matter how noble the deed or how good the consequence was—it's not something that happens to _everybody_.

"So how can you say that you would have understood?"

"I didn't have the Gift before I met you," she said, "But just imagining myself one day not being able to see monsters again is just… _I don't want that_. I don't want to be normal anymore."

"But _I _am. _I'm normal_, Elena," Zick said, emphasis on every word and emotion on every syllable, "and you have no idea how hard it is for me to keep pretending it's okay like this."

"I'm sorry, Zick. I'm sorry."

"I studied Psychology to find and excuse to the monsters I used to see, you know?" he started. "They would tell you it was a normal occurrence in children to create imaginary friends."

"And it _is_," Elena assured. "I had Charlie…"

"But the monsters I saw, I knew they weren't make-believe. I _knew _they were real but I passed them off as just some childish hallucination because… because I didn't want to remember that I could have had a different life with my powers… I could've been a great tamer!"

"I'm sure you would've, Zick. And I'm sorry… If there was a way for you to have your powers back—"

"I don't need false hopes, Elena. We know a tamer who gives up his Dom is as no tamer anymore."

"But that doesn't mean you're not a part of our world, you know?" Elena assured, "Because you _are _part of us."

"Still the optimist, I see," Zick laughed.

Elena laughed, too. "You know Bombo has a crazy idea."

"Bombo? He's here?" Zick desperately looked around his room for any sign of the monster.

"All the monsters are," Elena said. "They wouldn't leave your room no matter how much I threatened them."

"And his suggestion?"

"A group hug," Elena said, with a longing smile on her face.

"Still the wisecracker, I see," he chuckled, "I guess some things don't change." He opened his arms to receive Elena in the first embrace, "_C'mere_."


	3. Chapter 3

**WEIRDO BLABBS: **Okay, so the story continues in my head still. Here goes chapter three!

**WARNING: **Friendship is the general theme. But who knows? After all, this story is set with twenty-two-year-old Elena and Zick. *laughs*

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own anything.

* * *

><p><span><strong>CHAPTER THREE: THE NEXT DAY<strong>

Elena closed her eyes and let her head slam onto the open book on her desk. The smell of old paper and dust were strong on her nose but she had neither strength nor will to move. She breathed in and out as she tried to review what she had just read.

_Tutors and Tamers alike have studied the Dom for generations. The Dom is the source of a Tamer's power. Studies have suggested that because it is a form of energy, it can neither be created nor destroyed._

"But it can be transformed from one form to another," she whispered as she would when dreaming. It could have been the book or the Physics lesson she was reviewing. Really, on top of Keeper Studies, Anthropology gets mixed up in the middle of it all.

"Hey, little lady," said a voice. Elena felt two lean arms try to snake their way around her waist. "E-le-na~!"

"Lay, I _really_ don't have time for this now," she said and pried the young lady's arms apart. "Too _tired_."

Lay moved a chair in front of Elena's desk and rested her head in front of hers. "What's wrong? For the first time Little Miss Achiever wasn't listening to the teacher."

"I…" Elena looked up too fast which made her loads groggy, "have been up 'til early this morning reading."

"'_The Secrets of the Dom'_," the older lady read, raising the cover of the three-inch scripture, "this is ancient stuff. Where'd you get it?"

The brunette yawned. "The library, restricted section. I had to get under the librarian tutor's nose to get this out."

"So, what, is this advanced study or… is this, um, light reading?" The newcomer, Teddy, sat right on Elena's desk and started to pat her head. "If you keep this up, all those words are gonna start seeping out of your ears or something."

"This is… personal stuff," Elena answered and shoved the book into her bag. "Zick's back."

"What?!" was the first thing she got from both her listeners.

"Well, I'll be," Teddy declared. "So the prodigal son returns."

"Yeah," Elena said and slung the bag over her shoulder, ready to leave.

"So where is he now?" Lay asked. "Moping? Being difficult?"

Elena smiled, unsure. "Actually… He's catching up…"

* * *

><p>"Come on, Stellar Tutor Timothy Moth, you're not really getting slower as you age, are you?" Zick teased as he slowed his pace to match his friend beside him. Timothy was trying his best to keep up but the young man had long strides that he developed through time.<p>

The skinless cat's cold nose was up in the air in no time. "Ten years has made you quite arrogant, young Tamer."

"Ex-Tamer," he corrected under his breath. The two slowed down their pace as they turned to enter a newly-opened park by the lake.

"Are you still going to act like nothing happened, Zick?" Timothy asked as they stopped right at the shore.

Zick sat on the ground and Timothy curled up beside him. "No, I'm going to start acting like it did, and take it all in like a man."

Timothy gave a laugh that sounded like a purr. "Noble. The Zicks have always been noble."

"Hm," he hummed and looked around. "This is the place I lost my Dom, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"It's all very different last I was here," he said and looked around. The lake was deep blue in color and reflected majestic trees in the forests. There were flowers flourishing in every inch of the soil. No more was the creepy, old dock and the ghost-infested waters of the nearby swamp. Indeed, it was all very different.

"Last you were here, child," Timothy started and stretched his back, "was ten years ago. A lot of things have happened since then."

"I can see that." Zick breathed in deeply and felt a smile stretch across his face. Maybe it was a good idea to go back to that place, after all. He could feel himself get energized; get stronger.

A cold wind brushed past them and Zick sneezed. Timothy laughed. "Maybe your monster allergies are still active."

"I doubt it," Zick said and took out his inhaler to take a deep breath in. "It's just my asthma. Occasionally, it strikes. That's the reason I started running anyway."

"Hm…" The cat purred. "You could get all the exercise you need in the Tamer's Training Program, you know?"

"No, Timothy. I said I was going to take it in like a man. It doesn't mean it makes it any easier to mingle with the others without my powers."

"Especially the monsters?"

"_Especially _the monsters."

"But they _were _allowed to show themselves to you, weren't they?"

"They _were_, but you know. Outside the house, things are just different. For example, out here—" Zick look around the place for any signs of movement, "—I know there are monsters but I can't see—_wait, what was that_?!" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a black shadow move past. It was a quick movement, but he was almost sure it was the outline of a Bombo. Zick stood up and his legs debated a long time whether or not to go after whatever it was he saw.

"What did you see, Zick?" Timothy, too, stood up. "What did you see?"

Zick put a hand on his head that was starting to throb at the temples. "It… It was nothing. Just my mind playing tricks on me—I think we need to go. Please…"

"O-Of course, kiddo. Come on, let's go…"

They hurried to get out of the beautiful and yet mysteriously creepy park. Zick went ahead, hand still on his head. It was probably the stress and everything that had happened in between. Timothy, on the other hand, looked back with suspicious eyes.

* * *

><p>"Uhm, you guys go on ahead. I have some, um…"<p>

"Awwe, come on, Elena. Not the library _again_!" complained Lay, right at Elena's tail, almost ready to stop her.

"Yeah, Elena…" Teddy added, leaning on Lay and his arms around her shoulders. "Do you have to do this now?"

"Sorry, guys but…"

"It's Friday! It's party day at the Monster Club." Lay forcibly pried Teddy's arms apart. "For one day in your life, forget about what happened to Zick and move on. I know you've been trying hard since day one to give Zick back his powers. You've researched, you've asked and asked and asked; you took up a human Anthropology college program. But you this isn't your life, Elena. You have to leave all of this and… actually start _living_!"

"But…"

"He's back and you're friends again. That's what matters," Lay asserted, "Move on."

"I can't… It means too much to him! There's a cure out there somewhere, I know it. _I have to try._"

"His Dom can't be revived, Elena. So don't tire yourself out trying to do the impossible…"

A long silence filled the space between them. It was a very awkward confrontation especially because it was a first. Lay had always hinted at her disagreement at Elena being so obsessed with finding a cure but she had never been so vocal about it. Just today.

Lay smiled and so did Elena, albeit forcibly. "Okay… Thank you for your concern, Lay…"

"So, are you coming with us?" she asked, "Teddy's buying milkshakes…"

"Uh, yeah. You guys go on ahead, I'm gonna return this book first," Elena replied and held the ancient copy of '_The Secrets of the Dom_' in her arms. "I'm gonna catch up to you guys later on, okay?"

"Okay… Make sure you're there, alright?" Teddy and Lay walked out of the arena, probably talking about what kind of monster they'll study next in class.

In the meantime, Elena huffed and walked slowly to the library with her head still in Lay's words. She was right; she had definitely not forgiven herself for what happened to Zick. After all, he did _all _that to save her. It was something she couldn't take back nor change. Because of what happened, she has scarred Zick for life. Since then, she has made it her life's mission to give back to Zick what rightfully was his: his powers.

Elena sighed. Thanks to Lay's reality check, it seemed impossible to her now.

"So you want to learn the secrets of the Dom, eh?" said the woman on the front desk, eyeing the book on Elena's hands with much suspicion. She was someone Elena had never seen there before, with black hair that fell gracefully on her shoulders.

"Uhm, hi. I'm here to, um… Is the librarian here?" she asked.

"I'm here because the librarian is on leave. She left just this morning to visit a Detention Oasis in the South." She took the huge book and signed on the bard at the very back. "So, just out of curiosity, why do you want to know so much about the Dom that you've been forced to take a book out of the restricted section? You seem like a smart young lady, after all. But you're not a Tamer…"

"You—You're not going to tell on me, are you?" she asked. "It's going to stay on my record 'til I finish my understudy training."

"Oh, don't worry about it," the woman said, "I've done a couple stupid things when I was still in training."

"I—" Elena pushed the book toward the woman who hid it under the counter. "If, hypothetically, a Tamer lost his Dom, is there still a way to return it to him?"

The woman looked like Elena asked for her kidney. "Well, hypothetically, _no_," she quickly answered. "But, you know. Dom is energy, it can be found _everywhere_. It's all a matter of channeling it."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," said Elena. "Thank you… for not telling on me."

The brunette started to walk away. But no sooner than the third step she took, the woman called out again. "Hey, come here. I want to give you something."

* * *

><p>Over dinner, Zick was still quite in shock. The moment they stepped out of the park, his breathing became normal and his allergies stopped acting out. It had been twelve years since he lost his powers, but he remembers the feeling very well: and that was it.<p>

He sighed and stared at the potato salad in front of him. What exactly happened? And was what he saw really a Bombo or his mind playing tricks out of desperation?

"Honey, are you okay? You haven't touched your salad yet." Greta leaned over to Zick, who was sitting across from her.

"If you not eat salad, can Bombo eat it?" interrupted the gluttonous red monster.

"I'm fine, mom, just… I was just thinking."

"About what happened earlier today at the park?" Timothy confirmed.

"Why, what happened at the park, Timothy?" Zob joined in on the conversation as soon as he finished his meal. "Did something happen?"

"Earlier today when Timothy and I went jogging," Zick paused for a while to collect his anxious nerves, "Earlier today, I… we went to the park. You know, the new one where I lost my Dom?" Everybody nodded, and he continued. "My allergies acted up; and I'm not entirely sure but I think I saw a Bombo."

"It wasn't just an animal running around?" clarified Zob. He was caressing his chin with two fingers and looked very deep in thought.

"I… I'm not sure dad. Maybe, maybe not? There's no way to know exactly what—"

"_Ziiiiiiiick_!"

The voice could come only from one person, and the sound was like Vaseline on wound. Zick immediately felt light as a feather and he called back out, "We're in the dining area, Elena!"

Excited footsteps that fell on the floor rhythmically could be heard. The young lady arrived and almost slipped as she entered the room, in sweat and in tears. Without warning, she jumped at her friend and pulled him into a hug.

"O-Okay…?" Zick asked and patted Elena's back. "I'm at a complete loss for words. What happened?'

"S-Sorry," she said and let him go. She wiped her tears with the neckline of her shirt and grabbed both of his shoulders. "Zick—Zick, Zick, _I found it_!"

"Found what?"

"I found a cure for you," she exclaimed gleefully. "_I know how to get your powers back_!"

"What? But that's impossible! There's no way to get his powers back," said Timothy and immediately walked toward the two.

"That's what I thought, too," Elena started and looked at everybody around the table. They, too, were hanging on to every single word she had to say because somehow, they gave them hope. "But I found this book and it had a riddle, some sort of spell that can give you back your powers!"

"Okay, Elena," Zob interrupted, "I know you're excited but how can you be so sure it would work? And this book, where did you find it? Who gave it to you?"

The brunette opened her mouth to answer the question but stopped and fell silent. They she looked away, thinking… Just thinking, for about two seconds. "You know, I don't quite remember who gave it to me but… I think I found it in the library…? But anyway, I _know _it will work. I just _know _it will! My gut is never wrong."

"This spell you say," started Timothy, "can you tell us?"

Elena nodded and cleared her throat. "It says, '_Where one has lost, one will gain; but where one is healed, there will be pain. Shall he be worthy, the gift be given; shall he be not, never breathe again.'_"

"It's not much of a riddle," the cat said, "it's almost too easy."

"Except for the part where it said Zick will die," Zob pointed out.

"_Only _if Zick isn't worthy," Elena retorted, "but do you really think he _isn't_? If anyone is worthy of something, it's Zick…" She looked at him and gave him a weak smile which he returned wholeheartedly, "Definitely."

"But we're not entirely sure it will work," Greta said, "I won't risk it. Not when we just had him back!"

"Greta, that's what _you _want. But what about Zick? Do you think this is what _he _wants: to live a lifetime without his powers?"

"I—"

"Zick can do it," the brunette affirmed. "I don't know _how _but I just _know _he can."

Silence.

Then, "What about you, son?" Zob was putting his hand on Zick's shoulder, "What do you want to do?"

Zick looked at everyone around that table, ending with Elena. "I want to do it."


	4. Chapter 4

**WEIRDO BLABBS: **Our story takes a dark turn. I'm offering you bits and pieces of a mystery. Hm… I wonder if I'm straying off the actual plot? Tell me what you guys think! Thank you for reading!

**WARNING: **Friendship is the general theme. But who knows? After all, this story is set with twenty-two-year-old Elena and Zick. *laughs*

**DISCLAIMER: **I hope I owned Monster Allergy. If I did, it would have a sequel and it would look like this…

* * *

><p><span><strong>CHAPTER FOUR: THE REVIVAL<strong>

_Where one has lost..._

The eerie sound of the crickets dissipated into nothingness the moment Zick stepped into the grounds of the park. It was like they gasped in expectation for history to be made. Zick, Timothy, Elena, Greta and Zob moved about with narrow gait, wary of their environment.

_One will gain..._

They stopped at the edge of the lake; it was as quiet as the night. The still waters reflected the full moon up above them, the trees swayed almost hesitantly as they towered and martialed the endeavor.

Zick stopped and looked over the water. The same feeling as the one earlier that morning became evident to him. Now that he was aware of it, he could feel an invisible veil coat him with warmth—or was that power?

"Zick, I don't know how this'll happen but... try and call all your Dom back to you."

He nodded and stepped into the water, following the seductive energy beckoning him to come.

He raised both arms in the air and inhaled.

_But where one is healed..._

A strong gust blew past and stirred the leaves to a hushed rustle. There was a crackle from the sky and the clear night was shrouded in gray clouds and blue lightning. The wind grew more violent and whooshed all around them. The city outside didn't seem to notice.

Zick was lifted up in the air in an invisible sphere of gust.

"Uh, Elena!" he screamed, "What's happening?"

"I... I don't know!" she called. She shielded her eyes when a bright blue light started to glow brightly in the atmosphere around Zick. "Just stay calm and concentrate!"

_There will be pain..._

Zick closed his eyes. The heat on his skin started to go hotter and hotter until it was searing his skin like a hot poker. Small bolts of electricity danced all over him in zigzags; and they grew larger and larger, hotter and hotter. He felt his insides churn and his blood boil.

_Shall he be worthy, the gift be given..._

Zick gave a scream of anguish. He wriggled about and tried to escape invisible hot wire around his limbs.

"Zick, _you can do it_!" Elena screamed and tried to step closer but a force field was separating them. She wondered briefly whether she had just made the right decision to take him there.

_Well, there's no turning back now._

"_Concentrate_!"

Zick was now on all fours, desperately trying to free himself from the wind-lightning sphere. He wailed until he could no longer muster enough will to scream further.

"Stand up!" she pleaded. "_Stand up_!"

Like a zombie, Zick slowly stood up, eyes glowing a mysterious shade of blue. He balled his hands into fists and roared. The thunder struck him and enveloped the space in a bright blue light. He felt as if his whole body was being pounded on.

And then, suddenly, a strong force hit him on the head like a bullet and sent him flying backwards.

The sphere he was in dissolved; the thunderclouds disappeared; the wind stopped blowing.

The last thing Zick could remember was the silhouette of a human in a brown cloak just by the bushes; and then, it was all black, and cold, and _damp_.

_Shall he be not, never breathe again._

* * *

><p>Zob wasted no time in going after Zick the moment he saw his boy plummeting to the cold, cold water. He jumped into the blackness of the lake, swimming to where Zick had dropped. It took him a little while to grab his boy and take him to shore to check if he was still breathing.<p>

"_Is he alright_?" asked Greta weakly. She immediately offered her lap to lay Zick's head on. She wiped his face with one motherly caress, his skin feeling hot to the touch. She put her ear close to his nose. Then, "Zob, he's not breathing—_Zob, he's not breathing_!"

"Lay him on the ground, Greta," Zob ordered and took off the orange jacket he was wearing. He disregarded and tossed it aside before running toward his son. Hands clasped together, he started to pump on Zick's chest, every now and then listening to his heartbeat.

"Is—Is he gonna be okay?" asked Elena apologetically. It was bad enough she took away his Dom; taking his life was just careless and stupid. She wasn't thinking things through this time! Greta could only offer her a consoling hug as they watched Zob desperately trying to revive Zick.

"Come on, Zick," Zob repeated over and over, "_Don't you give up on me now_!"

With the last powerful pump to his chest, Zick gasped. He choked and threw a coughing fit... before he lay unconscious on the wet ground, retiring for the night.

"D-Do you think... Do you think he's okay?" Elena asked, "_Do you think it worked_?"

Zob cradled his son in his arms as he would a baby and spoke in a serene tone, "We'll have to find out tomorrow. For now, let's go home and let him rest."

"_Right_," she said and stopped herself from crying. "Let's go, Greta, Timothy."

But Timothy did not answer immediately.

"_Timothy_?" she asked.

The cat, as sharp as ever, did not miss Zick make eye contact right before he fell to the water. He had pointed to an area of thick shrub and trees behind them and Timothy was quick to react, to investigate. He couldn't see them but he was sure there had been somebody there; human or monster, he did not know. But the aura they had lingered and did not escape the veteran Tutor's keen senses.

"Huh?" He turned and saw the Zick's and Elena turn to make their way out. "Yes, yes... Let's go."

Timothy gave one last glance at the area Zick pointed to. Could he have just been seeing things with all that's happened? But what was with the ominous feeling in his gut? He decided he would investigate later, far from the worrying eyes of Greta, Zob and Elena.

The three of them, along with the cat, made their way out of the park. They walked quietly and carefully, knowing that what just happened was incredibly surreal.

Meanwhile, Old Mill slept peacefully... Unaware of the events that had just occurred; and the events that were about to happen.

* * *

><p><em>You belong to me now.<em>

_You obey me._

_A hooded figure held out a wrinkly hand out towards him and pointed a sharp nail to his forehead._

_"Your powers... are mine—!"_

Zick woke up in cold sweat; he immediately jumped up from bed and ran to the dresser to look at himself in the mirror: hair was still blue, eyes still black, skin as pale as ever; no tattoo or scar that appeared anywhere—which was good.

He relaxed for a bit, relieved, and sat at the foot of his bed. What just happened last night? He couldn't really remember. He was sure there was a blue light, hot pain, and... something in a brown hood. Whether he got his powers back, he didn't know because nothing seemed different about him. Nothing felt different.

Zick stood up again to get a fresh set of clothes from the closet, and that was when he noticed—

_Elena_. She was sitting hunched-back on the right side of his bed, sleeping. There was a blanket that now started to fall off from her shoulders as her chest rose and fell every time she took a deep breath.

Zick almost laughed at this. Her brown hair was a dishelved mess and her clothes were wrinkly and dirty. He figured she would be uncomfortable sleeping like that so he decided to wake her.

"Elena—?" He proceeded to touch her shoulder but she stirred and jolted to life.

"_What_?! _Who_?!" she yelped and looked around his room absentmindedly.

"Hey—_hey_!" Zick said, holding back his laughter. "_Relax_, we're not at war, soldier!"

"Huh?" she looked at him and relaxed her shoulders. "Oh... _right_."

Zick sat on the bed beside her. "You okay? Bad dream?"

"No... I was just—I wasn't in my right mind, I—"

"_Obviously_..."

Then, as if Elena had just realized who was in front of her, she screamed, "Zick!"

"Y-Yeah?"

Elena pulled him into a quick and protective hug. "_Zick_!"

"Uh, tell me what's going on...?"

"_You're okay_!" she said. Elena pulled away and examined him. "Do you feel anything? Anything _different_?"

"Not really," he said. "Are the monsters here?"

"No. Just you and me," Elena answered.

"Good," he said, "Then we don't know if I made it yet. Let's go downstairs."

"_Wait, Zick_!" she said halfway out the door.

"What is it?"

"If... If it didn't work, I..."

Zick, too, fell silent. He suddenly remembered the possibility of a failed endeavor. He didn't say it but Elena's spell gave him a small glimmer of hope that things would go back to the way they were. He would be a Tamer again; not anymore the prodigal son who couldn't get over losing his powers.

All of a sudden, Zick felt a growing disenchantment towards Elena. He had a small voice inside him saying, "_If this fails, it's your fault... If this fails, you don't deserve to be called my friend_."

Zick scolded himself for feeling that way. He isn't that person.

He _isn't_.

_I'm not_, he insisted. "We'll worry about that when that happens, okay?"

Elena smiled and nodded.

They slowly made their way down the stairs, Elena going ahead of him, and all Zick could hear was silence and the creaking of the steps. If he had gotten his powers back, he would be hearing the ear-splitting song of the Bursties; he would see the gelatinous slime of the Bobaks; he would see his grandparents and his dear friend, Bombo.

The thought recurred to him: maybe he didn't get his powers back after all. _Maybe_ he was still normal; and will _forever_ be normal.

"_This better work_," he heard a voice say. Elena looked up to him and asked what he just said. Only then did he realize that the hissing voice was his own. "Nothing... Just... I was just talking to myself."

Near the foot of the steps which led to the living room, Elena stopped. "Wait, Zick, close your eyes."

"What?" he asked, "_Why_?"

"Just..." Elena turned to him, went behind him and cupped her hands over his eyes. "_Close them_..."

"I don't think I need to when you're covering them," he said warmly and put his hands over hers.

"Okay, two more steps down," she said. He obliged and carefully stepped down to Elena's lead; all the while he was seeing black, hearing nothing but his breath and hers.

They stopped a few steps in front of the stairs and he was sure he heard the scuffling of feet—or _paws_?

"You can open your eyes now," she said and uncovered his eyes.

He squinted as his eyes adjusted. At first it was just a blur of colors; blotches and patches of them… but then he could start to see them vividly. Red, purple, yellow, pink, blue. He could register the images clearly, the shapes and the lines. People—

Greta and Zob were holding two ends of a banner with the words _'Welcome Home, Ezekiel'_ written clumsily over it in red paint. Behind it, Teddy and Lay stood, as well as some other familiar Tamer faces from twelve years ago. They were all smiling. As were the monsters: Bombo was expectantly holding on to his party hat, while another Bombo—_Bombolo_—was biting his nails in suspense. The Bobaks looked up from their reading upside-down from the ceiling. The Bursties hovered above the small crowd of people. Timothy and Jeremy sat statuesque in front of everybody, and Zick's grandparents were floating beside them, eyes hopeful.

Zick's vision suddenly became blurry; his cheeks felt damp and his breath hitched.

"You guys, by any chance," he managed to say through tears, "_didn't make yourselves visible, right_?"

A loud cheer could be heard and everyone stumbled to clobber Zick. Elena hugged him as she tiptoed to match his height; Greta gave him a back hug and Zob took the three of them in his arms in a group hug. The other Tamers also joined in on the commotion and the monsters gave a celebratory yelp.

Teddy ruffled Zick's hair affectionately and with brotherly caress. "Welcome back, you son of a—"

"_Teddy_, language!" warned Lay as she squeezed in between Elena and Teddy to get closer to Zick.

"It's good to be back, guys." He breathed a deep, content breath. "_Very_ good to be back."

Zick closed his eyes and breathed in relief, ecstatic happiness and content. He, for the first time in over a decade, felt at home in his own home, with his own people—and his own monsters.

But at the back of his mind, there was a whisper that was ominous and sinister—

_You belong to me now._

_Your powers are mine._


End file.
